Containers, or similar articles such as PET bottles and bottles of other materials, are often displayed and sold with tags attached to their necks. The contents of the tag may include, for example, description of occasionally conducted campaigns.
In the prior art, the generally known tag attaching apparatus capable of automatically attaching the tag of the above kind on a neck of an article (such as containers) comprises a labeler which continuously delivers a strip supporting the tag on the surface thereof. Disposed above a conveyor along which a plurality of necked articles are traveling, the labeler sharply folds back the strip in such a manner that the tag separate from the surface supporting the tag. As the tag is peeled from the strip, it falls downward, causing it to be fitted at the neck of the article. This apparatus is described in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 3(1991)-89471.
The above tag has an aperture through which a head portion of the article is passed. The diameter of the aperture is made slightly larger than the maximum outside diameter of the head portion of the article, so that the head portion of the article is readily passed through the aperture.
When the article is, for example, a PET bottle having a flanged neck portion, the technique is known in which the tag is caused to fall to rest on the flange in the same manner as mentioned above. Further air is blown downward to force the tag to move below the flange until reaching a shoulder portion of the article.
In this technique, the diameter of the aperture provided in the tag is rendered slightly smaller than the outside diameter of the flange, and the tag is provided with slits radially extending from the aperture. The diameter of the aperture is easily enlarged by virtue of the slits, so that the flange of the bottle can pass through the aperture.
The above conventional attaching of a tag to an article has a drawback, however, in that the tag readily falls off the neck of the article due to the enlarged aperture. This happens, for example, when the article is turned over in error during the transportation thereof.
Further, with respect to the above conventional attaching of the tag by forcing it below the flang with blowing air, the current situation has a drawback because uniform blowing of the air is difficult. Additionally, the downward fall of the tag involves a dispersion, causing the center of the aperture to become misaligned with the center of the head portion of the container. Another drawback is that the tag suffers from an irregular slope, thereby causing the blowing air in the above conditions to lead to breakage of the tag and lack of certainty.